In light of Gov. Rick Perry’s word of caution about raising tuition, the University of Texas System Board of Regents at a meeting on Wednesday only approved proposed tuition increases for out-of-state and health science campus students. The regents tabled a vote on an increase for in-state undergraduate and graduate students.

The board will revisit the question of changing tuition for in-state students at a meeting scheduled for May 20.

UT System Board Chairman Paul Foster said Perry’s letter, which he sent Wednesday morning, had a big influence on the decision to take ...

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Comments (7)

May 14, 2014 @ 12:31 p.m.

C M

Rick Perry is trying to harm UT while giving the public the perception that he is controlling excessive costs. Inflation is a fact of life, and in light of Perry's refusal to support additional state appropriations for universities, they have to look to students to help keep them financially viable. I noticed that Perry did not write such a letter to the A&M regents when they increased tuition. This is just further proof that Rick Perry is willing to harm our universities in furtherance of his political vendetta.

May 14, 2014 @ 1:08 p.m.

T D

This is equivalent to refusing to change your car's oil for frugality's sake.

May 14, 2014 @ 1:31 p.m.

poryorick

So, Perry refised to make the hard choice about tuition when he came to office ("If you want your kids to be able to attend affordable state schools, then everybody has to pay up through higher taxes."), so he laid the responsibility for funding at the feet of the universities themselves by deregulating tuition in 2003. Now he rides in on his fake white horse and crows about fiscal restraint.

Men who can't make hard choices don't deserve to lead.

May 14, 2014 @ 3:13 p.m.

Michael Hull

+1 on the previous post--Perry should be writing letters to key legislators encouraging them to restore historical funding to all of our institutes of higher education--this isn't a university problem, it's a governance problem

May 14, 2014 @ 4:54 p.m.

John Grishan

One thing can be said decisively about Perry. he has really tarnished his reputation by appointing cronies to various state boards. this is not good for Texas. I am glad that the Legislature is pushing back against the extremes of such appointments, however, we need a pledge from the next Governor to make these appointment based on an objective criteria that is transparent and in the best interest of the state and not the personal interest of the Governor.

May 14, 2014 @ 8:56 p.m.

hans5162 hans

The state used to provide 25% of the funding for the public university system. It now provides about 14%. Even with the tuition increases, it's still a bargain compared with private schools. Perry and his appointees are trying to ruin the public universities in this state. He'd sell his own mother for a $300,000 campaign contribution. At least the A&M regents seem to have the guts to ignore him.

May 15, 2014 @ 9:17 a.m.

Bobby Johnson

The best scene yesterday at the meeting was to see Mukund Rathi, a junior at UT-Austin, take the podium and slice and dice Powers' (and his mini-me) plea to raise tuition.

Foster was flummoxed and tried to cut Mukund off before he ever got started. But he pushed ahead.